Process for preserving or protecting substances or objects



. very Patented Aug. 4, 1925 UNITED sures PATENT oer-lea.-

ANNA PETRONELLA (manna-van nmgnnn, or nurrnnzono, JAVA, nuzrcn mt No Drawing.

To all whom it may concermfl Be it known that I, -ANNA PETRONEL CRAMER-VAN Dnvnm'nn, subject of the Queen 'of the Netherlands, residing at Buitenzorg, 5 Java, Dutch East Indies, have invented certain new and useful Improved Processes for Preserving or Protecting Substances or Objects, of which the following. is a specification.

It is known to preserve food and other substances and also to protect divers articles against contamination. by the influence of the atmosphere by covering them with a thin air-excluding film. This method is suitable for preserving food and the like, in cases Where neither heat nor chemical means can beapplied, e. g. when fresh fruits are to be protected from drying or when eggs are to be preserved.

It has been proposed to preserve eggs by applying thereto a solution of rubber, guttapercha or balata, to which may be added wax, ceresine or japan wax. However, to obtain-solutions of rubber, organic solvents in relatively weak solutions. This is troublesome when applying same. Moreover, such organic solvents have a very bad effect on the smell, and the taste or the condition, or both of most products to be preserved.

The present invention relates to a method of preserving or protecting substance by means of a rubber film which excludes the air and which avoids the said drawbacks. In some cases it is difiicult to obtain a film that really excludes the air, because the usual film-forming substances are in'uriously affected by the very substancesw ich are to be preserved (e. g. sealing-wax on bottles filled with concentrated alcohol). According to my invention, an impenetrable coating can be obtained in such cases in a sim le way. The invention consists in the use 0? latex of rubber bearing plants to coat the articles to be protected, by first applying a film of the liquid latex and subsequently causing same to become solid, e. g. by causing it to dry up. The whole treatment can take place at ordinary temperature. As such coating is an aqueous emulsion, it may be applied even to very delicate objects, such as fresh. fruits. The latex forms a thin coating, which closely conforms to the surface of the articles. This are necessary, all of which are very viscous A lication and September as, 192:. Serial no. scans.

coating hardens into a thin impenetrable film, which wholly covers an object or article or the parts of it to be protected. Thus on the one hand a very resistant coating is obtamed, whilst on the other hand heat treatment or an impairing treatment with chem icals,which might have a bad influence on the taste or on other properties, is avoided. In carrying out the process the following should be taken into account:

(011.) Choice of the Zatem.l)ifl'erent kinds of latex can be used for coatin and they can be obtained from different kinds of plants, spch as Euphorbiaceae, Moraceae, Sapotaceae, e c. (5.) Preparation of the Zateaa-After bemg obtained from the plant, the latex is passed through a sieve and is kept liquid as far as possible by means of a preserving agent (e. g. ammonia). The further treatment depends on the nature of the article to be coated. In case the coating is to be aplied for instance to the mouth of a corked ottle similarly to scaling Wax, no further treatment of the latex is required. When the latex is to be applied as an impenetrable film to food, all substances which emit a smell are first removed from the latex as much as possible.v If the film is to be very thin, the latex is diluted beforehand. In other casesa pigment or a filling material or a disinfecting agent may be added.

(0.) Preparation of the article to be. coated-This is cleaned and brushed with a disinfecting agent if necessary.

((2.) Application of the latex to the artz'-, 0le.Tliis is efiected by means of a pencilbrush, a glass rod or simply b the finger, or the article to be coated may be immersed in the latex; in all these cases it is advisable to suspend the article by means of a thread, so that during the treatment the article itself need not be touched.

The coating also may be applied by first spreading the latex to form a film, causing it to coagulate and then wrapping up the article in the fleece thus obtained. A thin film of liquid latex may be subsequently applied to enclose the article and the loose coatlng together.

In case it is diflicult to exclude wholly the air from an article, more than onev coating of latex may be applied and other substances,

.trable coating to articles latex are the followin e. g. pi ents, fibres or. other substances to strengthen 'the film may be included in the coating.

- (0,.) Hardening of the film.-'-This is at-v tained by causing he latex to dry. The drying latex often remains sticky at first and so adheres to the fin rs coated articles are touched? This may be prevented by dusting the coating with talc or by causing the film to harden by chemical means. I

f.) Subsequent sterilization=+The articles enclosed in 'driedlatex may be cooked in that state. In most cases a second sterilization is superfluous, and with man products, such as fresh fruits, eggs and .t e like, quite impossible.

r Preparation. for eonsum time.- When it is necessary to remove t e latex film, e. g. before consuming fruits thus treated, one has only to tear off the fleece by'hand; this operation can be facilitated by attaching a threadto' the latex.

. The advantages of ap lying an impeney means of rubber 1. It can very easi y be applied, no expensive means are reguired and it maybe applied on a small s'ca e.

2. The coating does n'ot-afiect the article to be coated, it does not injure-the -taste nor does it penetrate into the article and it can be applied at ordinary temperature.

3. e coating fortifies the skin of the article, which effect may be increased by including fibres in the latex.

4.'The coating is flexible and so will not chi or crack when' the' shape of the article" is a tered articles).

5; The coatin case the article as a tents willnot be e (which may be the case with soft is im netrable; hence in agile skin; .ltS consed'to the influence of the air when the skin is injured (which may for instance) be the case with eg affected by .high

6. The coating is not temperatures, not even if these are much I when newly 6 and 7,

it can nolonger be dissolve latex, so that a coating when once app to an article, cannot be destroyed when the treatment is repeated.

8. If required the 'coating' can easily be removed fromthe article without leaving any trace on it.

'quid latex, compares favourably with all othercoatmg means because .of the ,favourable properties mentioned, especially those mentioned in the clause '2 abovei in combination with those mentioned in clauses and further those mentioned in clauses 4 and 8. Hence, it is especially adapted for coatmg articles (in order "to prevent drying and contamination) such 11 as, for example, gi-esh fruit, eggs, cheese and -the. like, that would neither stand a drastic treatment with disinfecting agents, nor a heat treatment, nor the application. of' a coating which must be applied in ahot, conilitiogs. or dissolved in organic or corrosive oreover it has been found that corncobs" when treated with latex are not injured by cornweevils and that cock-roaches do not injure photographs which have been coated with latex.

The invention 'may kinds of articles.

WhatIclaimis2.

1. A process for preserving or protecting objects comprising thestep of applying an air-excluding fleece-like film of latex to the object under treatment.

2. A prooem for preserving or protecting objects, comprising the ste object under treatment wi form an air-excluding ,film thereon.-

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

- 1m rrriounua mm... mm

of" the liquid latex. to

. 3 be applied to many 1 

